Page 28
January 24, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
Dune Plants Offered
OCEAN CITY For the
eighth year in a row, the Town of
Ocean City will be offering
beach district plants to the pub-
lic for planting in the secondary
dune area.
The plants being offered are
hardy that will tolerate the harsh
environment of the oceanfront
areas. In addition, the plants
provide habitat enhancement,
food and shelter, water quality
treatment and erosion control to
the secondary dune area, which
often gets overlooked, accord-
ing to town officials.
"We began this program to
help with the health of the beach
and address an area behind the
dune that was in need of atten-
tion," said Ocean City Environ-
mental Engineer Gail Blazer.
"The plants are very beneficial
to the stability of the dune sys-
tem and help with erosion and
scour. Our residents and prop-
erty owners love the program
and it benefits the environment,
so it is a win for everyone."
Applications are now being
accepted; however, the dead-
line for all applications is Feb.
15. Oceanfront and ocean side
residents will have the opportu-
nity to order plants that will need
to be picked up at a predeter-
mined date and time. Suitable
plants to add to a secondary
dune include beach grass, bay-
berry, rugosa rose, beach plum,
high tide bush, red cedar and
panic grass.
For more information or to re-
ceive an application, contact
Blazer at 410-289-8825.
Street Sweeping
Restored
SALISBURY Wicomico offi-
cials last week announced the
street sweeping services previ-
ously eliminated because of loss
of state funding will be restored
in 2014.
Wicomico County Executive
Rick Pollitt Jr. and the Public
Works-Roads Division last week
announced 2014 will be a year of
restoration as the department will
once again provide street sweep-
ing and leaf removal services.
The services were among others
eliminated shortly after the loss of
over 90 percent of critical High-
way User revenue. In 2013, the
department filled three vacant po-
sitions that have allowed them to
establish a workgroup to focus on
street sweeping and storm drain
system cleaning.
"This is a great step forward in
getting our roads back to the
quality we can be proud of," said
Public Works Director Lee Beau-
champ. "This not only extends the
life of the roads in the county, but
also improves water quality of
stormwater runoff that comes off
the road network."
The Roads Division will pro-
vide street sweeping to areas of
the county with curb and gutter
roads. The goal of the first year
is to get to each street at least
Regional Digest
SEE NEXT PAGE
FROM PAGE 4
passible, but the condi-
tions are certainly not per-
fect, and they are going to
remain ice covered over-
night and for the next cou-
ple of days until the sun
starts to work on it, so
people have to use cau-
tion when they travel."
On Thursday, Public
Works Director Hal Ad-
kins reported snow re-
moval efforts had dwin-
dled down to salting inter-
sections and clearing
snow from fire hydrants
and bus stops.
"The majority of the is-
land is Coastal Highway,
which is not our obligation
because it is a State High-
way road, and they came
in right before the storm
event and did a salting
operation," Adkins said.
"We went at it from about
1:40 a.m. on Tuesday until about
one in the afternoon at which time
we sent most of the crews home
because they had been here for a
day and half, and we kept a skele-
ton crew on last night to address
any calls that come in from the
Public Safety Building's dispatch
center, and now I am hoping Mother
Nature is going to start melting it
away for us."
The town found no use in salting
roads to prepare for Wednesday
night's icy conditions as the temper-
ature dropped down into the single
digits, Adkins explained.
"We did not go into a salting op-
eration yesterday because based
on temperatures and the wind chill it
was of very little benefit ... our his-
tory here on the island proves that if
it drops much more than 15 degrees
salting is a waste of time," he said.
"We are out there today doing it with
temperatures supposed to hit at
least 28 degrees, and the winds
have died down, so we started salt-
ing the intersections this morning at
about 8 a.m. Not only at the inter-
sections on the highway but also
about 100 feet backed where cars
begin to brake."
As for Ocean City's famous
Boardwalk, it is left alone when it
comes to snow plows to save the
wood from any harm.
"There really is a minor concern
with the Boardwalk relative to snow
removal," Adkins said. "Yes, I know
it would be an inconvenience to
someone wishing to walk or exer-
cise but when you think about the
other priorities in town with motor-
ists, coupled with the fact that
Boardwalk is made of wood and we
don't want to accelerate any dam-
age to it, we stay off of it."
However, on Wednesday after-
noon, city staff was seen clearing
the Boardwalk with a new piece of
machinery, a "power broom", to test
it out in how it works in clearing
snow from the Boardwalk.
"It appears the broom worked
well, did not damage the wood, and
in fact opened up a path for our vis-
itors this coming weekend," Adkins
ier access to and from state main-
tained right of ways.
The town has classified city
streets based on function, traffic vol-
ume and significance to the welfare
of the community. Those streets
that provide for largest traffic vol-
ume and connect major sections of
the town, plus provide emergency
access fire, police, and medical
services will be addressed first. The
second priority streets are those
that act as arteries off of the main
thoroughfares. The third priority
streets are low volume residential
streets and municipal parking lots
that are not supporting events or
regular activities. The fourth priori-
ties are alleys.
The town only maintains certain
City sidewalks. These areas are ad-
jacent to Town of Ocean City facili-
ties/buildings, and Fire Depart-
ments. All of these specific areas
will be addressed after adjacent
streets have been plowed or simul-
taneously through an internally co-
ordinated effort between the con-
struction manager and the mainte-
nance manager.
The construction manager deter-
mines when snow will be removed
by truck from any specific area.
Such snow removal will occur in ar-
eas where there is no room on the
street for snow storage and in areas
where accumulated piles of snow
create a hazardous condition or limit
visibility at intersections.
Snow that has been piled during
initial plowing efforts will also be re-
moved from ocean-side street ends
that are elevated higher than Balti-
more Avenue and Coastal Highway,
if the street end does not provide an
area suitable for storage. This will
eliminate the occurrence of daytime
thawing, draining on these major ar-
teries, then nighttime freezing prob-
lems. In major snow events, it is the
town's policy to dump bulk snow
into the bay or Inlet rather than haul-
ing out of the town to increase pro-
ductivity. The dumping is approved
by Maryland Department of the En-
vironment per a Memorandum dat-
ed Feb. 19, 2003.
said.According to the Town of Ocean
City Department of Public Works
Snow Removal Policy, the town
assumes the basic responsibility for
the control of snow and ice in city
streets for the residents of Ocean
City. This responsibility is shared in
part by the Maryland State Highway
Administration (SHA), when ad-
dressing Philadelphia Avenue and
Coastal Highway, in addition to Bal-
timore Avenue from the South 1st
Street to 15th Street.
The Public Works construction
manager decides when to begin
snow or ice control operations. The
criteria for this decision is based on
if snow accumulation on roadways
reaches two inches or more in depth
because large snowplows are not
controllable unless snowfall is
greater than two inches; conse-
quently snow-plowing operations
will not be conducted for snowfall
less than that amount.
Other criteria is if drifting snow
causes problems for travel, icy con-
ditions appear seriously affecting
travel, time of snowfall in relation-
ship to heavy use of streets, and
pre-winter storm salt applications
after winter storm warnings have
been posted.
Initial plowing consists of a single
pass in both directions for residen-
tial areas to allow an open path of
travel. This method is required pri-
marily to open as much roadway as
possible with limited resources. At
times of extreme snowfall, initial
plowing may have to be repeated
until snowfall stops or tapers off.
After the roadways are initially
opened and snowfall has diminish-
ed, the town will begin pushing the
snow back to the side of the streets,
citywide and completely clear the
streets.
The SHA classifies the bus lanes
in the city as shoulders, which rele-
gates the necessary snow plowing
to last to be maintained. Town forc-
es maintain the bus lanes to insure
safe passage of the buses, and at
times may be required to clear piles
left by the state plowing efforts at
intersections to allow motorists eas-
... OC Crews Worked Long Shifts Moving Snow
Ocean City equipment is pictured Wednesday afternoon during a break from snow re-
moval.
Photo by Chris Parypa